Im not sure if this is the right forum, but its militay related. A buddy has some 7.62x39 fmj ammo he wants to sell, he got it in trade, but isnt sure if its corrosive. I thought once I saw a list of headstamps showing maunfactor and if corrosive or non. If I get the headstamp off the ammo is there a way to see if its corrosive?

Thanks,
Eterry

Not to generalize to much but if it is anything other than US made it will have a degree of corrosiveness to it. The Russian made non-corosive primer will still cause corrosion if not cleaned. Depending on the gun it's not a big deal. If it's an SKS you have to clean the piston once in a while. I found out with mine this way. The face of piston is chromed not the whole piston.

Treat all Com-blok military ammo as corrosive!!
It only takes a little boiling water to flush the corrosive salts out. If you get into Military surplus Swedish, Swiss were never corrosive after the late 1930's. I have some 1980's Russian .223 ammo that states it is non-corrosive. Don't you believe it!!

I remember the first SKS I bought came with a case of ammo, a day after a range session the bore had a nice yellowish tint to it, so I stripped and cleaned it...a couple days later I found the places I had missed because they were the same color. I found out why it came with the rifle...total cost, gun, ammo, sling, oiler, ammo harness, all for $89.99 if I recall...those were the days.

I now have an AK-47 variant which I use as a patrol carbine...hits a little harder than the 5.56. I been using Wolf SP ammo from CTD for a while, it seems to not be corrosive at all...mebbe my eyes are getting old...was thinkong about some range time when it warms up and stumbled across the ammo, will probably buy it to help out a friend.
Thanks guys,
Eterry

quote:

Originally posted by Jpat:
Treat all Com-blok military ammo as corrosive!!

That is good advice.

Take a piece of iron (or mild steel) and lay it on the ground.

Take one round of the suspect ammunition, pull the bullet and dump the powder.

Load the empty, primed case into the chamber of the rifle, aim it downward over the piece of iron so that the muzzle is about 1" above it.

Fire the primer (and clear the chamber).

Bring the piece of iron indoors, and clean the gun, including the piston and gas system.

Check the piece of iron every day or two; if the primer is corrosive, you will see stains and pitting develop.

George

i shoot a lot of corrosive
if you have a chrome bore an chamber
not a big deal
if your afraid of wearing the gun out
then buy the nice stuff